Two arrested for trespassing at Rumsfeld speaking event

Two people were arrested for trespassing this afternoon after refusing to move to the designated protest area during former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s appearance at the Truman Library.

Adrianne DeWeese - adrianne.deweese@examiner.net

Two people were arrested for trespassing this afternoon after refusing to move to the designated protest area during former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s appearance at the Truman Library.

Those arrested had initially been inside and were part of a 10-minute disruption that took place shortly after Rumsfeld took the stage inside the library’s auditorium.

“The library’s protocol is to tell them to be quiet once, and the second time, they need to leave,” Independence Police Department Capt. John Cato said. “They were given the option of leaving the property or being cited, and they wouldn’t leave.”

The two protesters left the auditorium, but then refused to go outside to the designated protest area or leave the property, so library officials cited them for trespassing, a municipal offense, Cato said.

Despite the protest, Cato said security and policing at the event went well.
“Overall, it was a good day,” he said. “There’s always somebody who wants to voice their opinion, and that’s their constitutional right, and as long as they abide by the rules on private property, all goes well.”

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